


A Goddess Called Infinity

by RaventheRogue



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon Death, Canon-Typical Violence, Divergent Timelines, F/F, Headcanon, Infinity Gems, Multi, Original Character(s), Romantic Subplot, Spoilers, ocxcanon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2020-01-28
Packaged: 2021-01-04 08:30:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 12,082
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21194684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RaventheRogue/pseuds/RaventheRogue
Summary: Thanos gathers all of the Infinity Stones. He has all the power of the universe in his hand- literally. But what's this? Turns out there's more to the stones than meets the eye. Confusion erupts as the mad scramble for the stones is reborn, but the twist is now they are sentient beings. To end the mad titan's reign, the Avengers attempt to gather the stones to allow them to fuse into the goddess they once were. The Crystal Gems warn that this will only spell the apocalypse, one that is far worse than anything Thanos could conjure. Meanwhile, amidst the chaos, Wanda Maximoff finds love in an unlikely place.





	1. Overcharge

**Author's Note:**

> Chapter Synopsis: Wanda loses the one she loves in order to protect the universe, only for her efforts to be thwarted. Then something unexpected happens.
    
    
    “Wanda. It's time,” Vision says. Although his voice is naturally monotone, there is a weight on those words. Thanos was advancing on his and Wanda’s position with five of the six infinity stones. Thanos’s final goal is nestled into Vision’s forehead, rippling softly with untold power. Power they cannot allow the titan to possess.  
    
    “No,” Wanda she replies, her voice wavering. She didn’t want to destroy the one she loved. There had to be another way.  
    
    “They can't stop him, Wanda, but we can,” he insisted as he took her hand, “Look at me. You have the power to destroy the stone.” As discussed, she would destroy it as a last resort to keep Thanos from the stone.  
    
    “Don't—”  
    
    “You must do it. Wanda, please,” he pleads. Vision gently lifts her hand and presses it upon his face. She forces herself to look at him.  
    
    “We. Are. Out of time,” he adds slowly.  
    
    She shakes her head, her voice a whisper, “I can't.”  
    
    “Yes, you can. You can,” he quietly insists, now pushing away her palm so that it’s hovering above the stone. Its yellow depths still churn, like a sea full of life and energy.  
    
    “If he gets the stone, half the universe dies.”  
    
    Wanda steps back, grief already gracing upon her face. Sensing her hesitation, Vision continues.  
    
    “It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is,” there a pause as she prepares to do what she has to do, “It's all right. You could never hurt me,” he assured. Wanda opens her mouth as if to reply, but nothing comes out. Years of love and grief flood her mind all at once. There’s a familiar ache in her heart, like when her brother died in Sakovia. Only that was sudden, sharp like a knife. This, this is slow and agonizing. The weight of what she has to do and what it means poisons her.  
    
    “I just... feel you.”  
    
    The pain it causes her is unbearable, but she has to do it. Red energy beams from her shaking hand to the mind stone.  
    
    Just behind her, Thanos is gaining on their position. Every avenger that attempts to intervene is easily swatted away like annoying flies. That’s all they were to the titan; entitled pests pointlessly keeping him from bringing them prosperity. Wanda tears her gaze away from her love and glances over her shoulder towards the chaos with fearful eyes. Seeing him advance so quickly, she adds her free hand so that two beams focus on the mind stone. So far it shows no sign of breaking. She begins to sob.  
    
    Steve Rodgers is Thanos’s last opponent before he reaches the duo. Thanos goes to grab him but Steve holds him back, keeping the gauntlet unclenched. It takes all of his strength and he screams in defiance, but it is short-lived. Soon he’s swatted away as well.  
    
    Looking in horror as Thanos approaches them unopposed, she points one of her beams at Thanos to keep him at bay. It takes so much effort to deal enough energy to push him back while simultaneously trying to destroy the mind stone. Fear and grief constrict her and almost suffocate her.  
    
    Thanos fights for every inch of ground, yet she forces herself to focus on Vison. He feels every thought racing through her mind, every emotion tearing through her heart, every shred of energy coursing through her being. She’s so close. All she needs is a little push.  
    
    “It’s alright,” he breathes. She can barely hear him over the rushing energy and her heart pounding in her ears, but she can make out what he’s saying.  
    
    “I love you.”  
    
    The stone finally begins to crack. For a moment, Vision closes his eyes and looks at peace. Whatever he’s actually experiencing—if it’s the sensation of energy being released from the stone, if it’s his consciousness slipping, or if it’s simply a figment of his artificial imagination— is a mystery. At last, the stone breaks, releasing a shockwave of energy that blows Wanda and Thanos back. When the flash fades, Vision is nowhere to be seen. Wanda is on the ground, catching her breath. She exerted herself so much and feels so drained.  
    
    Thanos approaches her. “I understand my child. Better than anyone.”  
    
    Wanda’s grief and fear are replaced with blood-boiling anger, “You could never,” she snarls.  
    
    “Today I lost more than you could ever know, but now is not the time to mourn,” Of course, he was referring to when he had to sacrifice Gamora, but even if she knew that her argument would not change. Fundamentally the actions were the same, but what they meant was entirely different. Thanos seemed to mistake guilt for compassion and cruelty for sacrifice. He seemed to mistake Vision’s and Wanda’s mutual understanding of what had to be done as being the same as his justification for his daughter’s death.  
    
    “Now, there’s no time at all,” he continued reaching forward. The time stone hums to life as he reworks the threads of time itself. The very explosion that was the mind stone shattering starts to reverse itself as he twists his hand. At last, Vision is returned, and he gazes at Thanos with a horrified expression.  
    
    “No!” Wanda screams as she jumps to stop him, but he swats her away. She helplessly watches as he picks up Vision by the neck and plucks the mind stone out of his forehead. Vision’s body becomes lifeless and grey. Thanos throws the husk away and Wanda stares horrifically into Vision’s hallow, lifeless eyes.  
    
    Thanos’s lips curl in satisfaction as he adds the mind stone to the middle of the gauntlet. Colors of electricity-like power flow through him and he gasps. The power was exhilarating. His breathing becomes increasingly labored as the searing energy prevails. What was happening? He was supposed to have gained control of the gauntlet by now. He was no mere mortal, he was strong enough to handle the power. Wanda can only watch as the chaos plays out  
    
    The energy radiating from the gauntlet is strong and writhing, Wanda can feel it, it’s like a beast craving escape, clawing away at freedom. Waves hit her with monumental force, a shrieking wail rips through the air. Where it’s coming from is unknown.  
    
    “This. Isn’t. Right!” Thanos manages to bellow between gasps of agony. It wasn’t supposed to feel like this. He manages to look towards Wanda, who’s sitting on the ground dumbfounded.  
    
    “What. Did. You. Do?” He snarls. She shakily scrambles away from the mad titan. As she watches, he’s seemingly staring at her, but his gaze isn’t actually upon her.  
    
    “Wanda, what’s going on?” Banner’s crackling voice transmits over the commlink but she does not answer. Her eyes widen as she’s starting to understand the wail; as she’s hearing what Thanos is hearing.  
    
    _Release us!___  
    
    _**Release Us!******___  
    
    _**RELEASE US!******___  
    
    It’s too much for her. She covers her ears with her hands to drown it out, but it won’t stop. She screams.  
    
    Thanos turns at a new source of commotion. Thor rips through the clouds, Stormbreaker in hand. He throws it and Thanos, being mildly incapacitated, can’t defend himself. The magnificent ax lodges itself into the titan’s chest. The pain hardly compares to the overpowered gauntlet. Thor could care less about what the hell is happening, he’s got one thing on his mind.  
    
    Before he can reach Thanos, before Wanda can warn him, a shockwave of energy erupts from the gauntlet. Thor, Thanos, and Wanda are blown back. Streaks of color mark the sky as various stones are launched away from Earth.  
    
    Thanos groans as he sits up. Stormbreaker is no longer lodged into his chest, and the gauntlet is no longer radiating unbearable amounts of energy. Wait. He turns his hand over. There was one stone left, shining a brilliant blue.  
    
    "No," he hissed. He had the stones, he won! How could this have happened?  
    
    Thor is quick to his feet. He reaches his hand out and Stormbreaker flies back into his grasp. Thanos turns his gaze to the Asgardian.  
    
    “This,” he huffed between labored breaths, “Isn’t over.”  
    
    Thor leaps up and swings the ax at him again, but Thanos is quick to summon another portal with the space stone he managed to hold onto. Stormbreaker strikes empty ground. Unsatisfied, Thor rips his ax from the Earth. “Should’ve gone for the head,” he muttered to himself.  
    
    Steve has woken up by now and makes his way over to Thor while slightly limping. Before he could ask anything T’Challa reported to him over the commlink  
    
    “They’re… retreating,” Steve says. The alien army was probably trying to regroup with Thanos. He looks to Thor, “What happened? Is it over?”  
    
    “I… Don’t know,” he admits. His gaze falls over to Wanda, still unconscious on the ground but something yellow is glowing in her hand. The mind stone.  
    
    “If anyone knows, it’s her,” he says, gesturing to her.  
    
    Steve nods. He noticed the stone, but looking around he didn’t see Vision. Unfortunately for them, his body had been destroyed in the blast.  
    
    “Alright, let’s regroup, count our losses, and figure out what happened.”  
    
    The war was far from over.


	2. Legend

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steven learns some gym mythology, and then the Crystal Gems catch wind of the fight in Wakanda.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **DISCLAIMER**: I have not seen the entire SU series <strike>unlike the MCU</strike> and may not be familiar with every nuance. As such, I apologize for mistakes or if characters appear OOC. This is an AU, however, so I took certain creative liberties. I do appreciate it if you take the time to comment to help me make this fic better. The period in which this happens in the SU timeline is ambiguous and for simplicity, I’m focusing on the main four plus Peridot and Lapis.

_Earlier that day, in Beach City~_

“Too bad your test isn’t on gem history, I could really help you study for that,” Steven sighed as he slouched back on the couch. His best friend Connie had come over to hang out on the condition that she study a bit for her history test while there. 

“I dunno Steven, you tend to not listen to Pearl’s history lessons,” Connie retorted playfully. Steven shrugged, “I don’t do it on purpose. I just get… Distracted,” he replied.

Connie giggled, “Yeah, it’s hard not to with the way she rambles.”

There was a moment of silence as Connie continued to look through her notes. Steven was quickly getting bored, but he didn’t let it show. He decides to try to revive the conversation.

“Some of the Gems are pretty old. They could probably tell a lot about history.”

“Mhm,” Connie replied half-heartedly.

“You think they’re old enough to confirm stuff like mythology?” Steven pondered out loud. Connie looked up from her notes and thought, “That’d be really cool! I’d ask all about greek myth,” She hummed. 

“I’d ask about Vikings!” Steven declared.

“Oh, oh, even better,” Steven added on with great conviction, “the Big Bang.”

“You mean, how the universe was made?”

“Yeah!... Well, they probably aren’t that old,” Steven laughed. Amythest was made here on Earth. The others were presumably made on Homeworld.

“Don’t the gems have their own mythology?” Connie asked. Steven shrugged, “I think so. They have shrines and temples and cool magic stuff, but I’ve never asked,” he admitted. Upon saying this he realizes he could simply ask them. It’d hopefully turn into storytime.

As if on cue, they turn to the sound of the temple door opening and see Pearl and Garnet walking out. Steven commits to his idea and hops off the couch, bounding towards them with a twinkle in his eye. 

"Oh, hello Steven—"

"Guys, how was the universe made?" He blurts out the first question on his mind, interrupting Pearl. 

"Oh Steven," Pearl says, waving her hand in that way she does when there are trivial questions, "There's simply no scientific way to trace back the origin of the universe. To do so would be to trace back the origin of matter itself! We—"

Steven shook his head insistently as she started to ramble, "No, no, like, how do you _believe_ the universe was made?"

"Eheh, what?" Pearl said incredulously. Now, she was a history guru and there were plenty of legends depicting the universe's birth, but that's all it was; legend. Fable. Fairytale. Not facts, equations, or science. Even though she wasn't as skeptical as, say, Peridot, it wasn't even plausible with their gem "magic", or so she believed. 

"The legend of Infinity," Garnet says simply as she adjusts her glasses. Steven gasps dramatically, that was quite possibly one of the coolest titles he's heard. 

"I-It’s just a silly fairy tale," Pearl dismisses slightly flustered, "it's quite far fetched, the prospects of Goddesses and all that—"

"Whoa, no way!" Connie piped up as she abandoned her homework and joined Steven's side, "Tell us!"

"Garnet," Pearl quietly groaned.

"Tell us, tell us, tell us," the two teens chanted. 

"Ok, I'll tell you," Garnet says with a small smile. Steven and Connie gasp and take a seat on the floor. Connie has her knees up and her elbows resting on them as her hands support her head. Steven is laid back with his hands on the ground and his legs splayed out in front of him. They eagerly wait as Garnet prepares her tale. She clears her throat.

"Before the universe, before the concept of time itself, there was nothing yet everything all at once. The threads and energies of the void wove and collided into an entity. She was a Goddess called Infinity,” she went on. Steven and Connie were completely entranced by her story. Even Pearl enjoyed it, though she didn’t let it show right away. 

“Over a span that was simultaneously billions of years and milliseconds, She decided to create the universe, and in doing to She split herself into six parts.” Garnet lifted her hands, snapping her fingers with each word for emphasis.

_Snap!_ “Space.”

_Snap!_ “Time.”

_Snap!_ “Power.”

_Snap!_ “Reality.”

_Snap!_ “Mind.”

_Snap!_ “Soul.”

“Whoa…” The teens cooed in awe.

“Each part became a gem that launched across the newly birthed universe, granting it the ingredients necessary for life. It’s said that Homeworld was created at the exact spot She split, making all of gem-kind direct descendants of Her.”

As Garnet finished, the wheels in Connie’s head were churning, “Wait, do her gems still exist? Somewhere in the universe?” She gasps after asking her question, “Do they each have their own forms?”

“To the latter question, yes, theoretically they do,” Pearl butt in, “But for as long as gems and other lifeforms have existed, they’ve never been found. _If_ they exist,” she added. 

“That means they can fuse right? And reform Infinity?” Steven blurted out, ignoring Pearl’s skepticism. He was gushing over the fact that God was a giant woman. Oh, what he’d give to meet her! “It’s said if Infinity would ever reform, she’d look over her child, the universe, and judge her,” Garnet said solemnly.

“The universe is a woman too?!”

“Steven no,” Pearl interjected again, “Her point is that with the state the universe is in, she’d probably, well—”

“Boom,” Garnet finished, mimicking a very under exaggerated explosion. Steven’s and Connie’s faces fell.

“Well, I think she’d be the nicest person to exist,” Steven said dreamily, trying to conjure an image of her in his imagination. “She… has galaxies in her hair! Long, fluffy hair, and… Six arms with each gem! Where ever she walks, life springs up…”

Connie joined in, “... And her voice is so heavenly people who hear it can’t comprehend it and die from its magnificence!”

“Yea— wait,” Steven said, having to double-take what she said.

“She has eyes all over her body, and is on fire!” Connie was thinking of something closer to arch angles. Steven laughed nervously.

Before Pearl could ramble about how ridiculous and mildly insulting their renditions of the gem goddess were, Peridot yells frantically from across the room, "Guys, come look at this!” The four of them head over. Amytest emerges from another part of the house to see what was going on as well.

Peridot is sat in front of the TV while scrolling madly on her tablet while Lapis Lazuli is entranced on the TV. It was the news.

“I was reading some crazy articles and flipped to the news and it’s real!” Peridot explained, not looking up from her tablet. Everyone watched the TV intensely.

> _“According to officials, a massive alien fleet has entered our atmosphere. Reports say that the fleet is similar to the one that attacked New York a few years ago. The fleet seems to be landing somewhere in Africa, although the report is unofficial.”_

As the news anchor talked, there were diagrams of the various ships entering Earth’s atmosphere with time stamps. When he mentioned New York, images of the alien army that attacked were shown and compared to the very limited pictures of the current described situation. 

“We can help this time!” Steven declared. During the aforementioned Battle of New York, Steven and the Crystal Gems were busy dealing with a different threat. Other events such as Sokovia and Germany were largely unknown by them and the world until after the fact. 

“This is hardly a gem issue,” Pearl argued. It was a weak excuse, but the gems had an unspoken agreement to keep their heads down. Obviously, they were well known in Beach City, but the “city” itself was small and inconspicuous. Anything that happened there was written off as just “the quirks of the town”. Plus there was the Sokvia Accords, and whether or not they would somehow have to comply with them if they were to make themselves known to the world and their governments was a mystery they didn’t want to solve. After all, there were extraterrestrials with impressive powers.

“Guys, an army of aliens is attacking us for probably the fifth time. Aren’t we Earth’s protectors?” Connie counters.

“Yeah, let’s go kick some alien butt! They don’t stand a chance against us!” Amythest agreed.

Glances were exchanged before Garnet nodded, “The closest warp is… The caverns,” she declared. There was no arguing with Garnet and her future-vision. 

With that, everyone headed to the warp. 


	3. Calamity pt. 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gems join the battle of Wakanda and end up getting separated. In this part one of three, we focus on Garnet, Peridot, and Amethyst up until the Blast.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> _DISCLAIMER_ Some terminology may be off about the battle and the alien army itself. I haven't seen Infinity War in a while though I did consult the script and other resources. I'm not breaking my back to make every tiny detail accurate guys, I'm just not.

When the Gems arrive, the caverns are dark except for a humming blue glow from the cavern walls. Peridot is immediately drawn to the minerals that make up the walls. “Whoa, this stuff is vibranium! Super rare and super strong,” she reported as she traces her hand along the various patches of raw vibranium. She could only imagine how strong gems could be if they were made in a Kindergarten here.

As they walk along, Pearl gets uneasy, “Something doesn’t seem right. Was— was this like this the last time we were here?” She asks hesitantly. It’d been millennia since the gems last used this particular warp.

“Ah, don’t be paranoid Pearl, no one knows about this place except… us…” Amethyst retorts, but she trails off as they exit the chamber into the rest of the mine. Huge chunks of the vibranium had been excavated, and various high-tech trains transported the mineral to the surface. As each train passed, the humming reverb echoed off the expansive walls of the mine, creating a chorus of never-ending magnetism. The gems’ jaws collectively drop.

“There’s no way this is Earth tech, and it’s too different for gem tech too!” Pearl exclaims. How could they have not known about this?

“The only way we find out is on the surface,” Garnet resolved.

“Yeah, but how the heck do we get _allllll_ the way up there?” Amethyst huffs, gesturing upwards. There was no clear exit or indication that there _was_ a surface. Garnet observes as a train started to pass by. 

“We hitch a ride,” she states. Before anyone could react to her statement she grabs Amethyst and throws her at the train. 

“Wahooooo!” Amethyst exclaims as she hurtles towards the train and latches on. She’s soon out of sight due to the train’s speed, but the train was far from done passing by. 

“Me next,” Peridot proclaims. Garnet gives a microscopic nod and throws her too. Success. She turns to the rest of them.

“I’m okay, I’ll meet you up there,” Lapis says as she summons her water wings and flies off.

“Uh, I’ll escort Steven and Connie to the surface a different way,” Pearl decides. Steven groans, but Garnet nods, “Stay safe,” she says with a smile. With that, Garnet leaps up a tremendous height and was able to catch the train before it finished passing by. 

“Right,” Pearl says, once they’re the only ones left. She peers around the cavern before spotting a path, “This looks like a section of the original structure, we can follow it to the surface,” she reports confidently as she leads the way. Connie and Steven glance at each other and shrug before following.

Meanwhile, on the train, Garnet swung herself to the top of it after latching on and was making her way to the other two. Amethyst was holding on with her whip and Peridot was practically attached to her.

“Why does this train feel so weird?” Amethyst shouted over the sounds of electricity. Her form and voice seemed to wavier as sonic energy pulsed towards the train. While Garnet didn’t seem to struggle to stay upright, she felt a quivering sensation as well, as if she was going to internally collapse. Peridot finally opens her eyes and takes a look around. It was hard to see the struts along the track as they whizzed by them, but she had a clue of what was going on.

“It’s pulsing some sort of energy, we likely won’t last long here!!” She concludes. 

“We have to get off as soon as possible,” Garnet replies urgently. She couldn’t have them all poof before they reach the fight! She spots a bit of sunlight and doesn’t hesitate. Garnet scoops up Amethyst and Peridot leaps up. Amethyst saw that they weren’t going to make it and threw out her whip so that it latched onto a stalactite. Finally, they swing to safety.

“Good work,” Garnet says simply as she puts both gems down. Amethyst only replies with a small, smug smile.

The area they exit out onto was a minor loading dock, but not the main exit. The scene they are greeted with once they finally exit the mines is that of utter chaos. T’Challa had given the order to open the barrier partially and The Outriders were pouring in. They were off to the east of the main battle and had an impressive view of the front line. Peridot was beginning to regret her decision to come.

Garnet sensed her concern, “Stay close to us, we’ll cover you.” Peridot considered it and nodded. She had her ferrokinesis to help her and she could possibly take a weapon from the fallen. The three of them leap down into the battle and head for the front with their weapons drawn and ready. Peridot remained behind the two of them, eyes scanning for danger.

“Whoa!” Amethyst shouts as she dodges an Outrider. She throws out her whip and it wraps around the creature's throat. She then swings it around, “Catch Garnet!” Garnet turns and punches it with her heavy gauntlets, launching the creature across the battlefield. A horde of nearby enemies take notice to them and break off from the main front to apprehend them to allow their other allies to charge through unfazed.

Peridot observed a large metal panel on the ground from a fallen ship and a group of Outriders charging at her. She extends her hands in an attempt to lift the panel. It quivered but didn't budge. "C'mon, lift!" Peridot huffs as she strained with her powers. Garnet saw what she was trying to do. She manually picks up the panel and props it up, "Hold it there," Garnet commanded as she let go. It wobbles, but Peridot is able to keep it upright. Garnet let herself have a running start before she punched the panel with both gauntlets. The panel rips itself from the ground and plows through the battlefield, taking a huge column of enemies with it. The feat did not go unnoticed. 

“Guys, I’ve got three bogeys at the front,” Sam says as he observes the three gems from his position in the sky. Not only were they wildly different from the invaders, but they were also fighting them.

Natasha saw who he was talking about, “I got a visual too,” she confirms. She and Okoye had just cleared a wall of Outriders a bit aways from the gems and had a moment to breathe. It wouldn’t last long, though. Still, they observe their colorful allies.

“Friend or foe?...” She trails off.

Okoye didn’t reply at first. Garnet leaps over a swing of one Outrider and lands on the other side of it. Before the creature could turn around, she punches it several times in rapid succession when it finally retaliated. She caught its arm as it was thrust at her and throws the alien over her shoulder. It lands into another Outrider and brings both of them down. 

Okoye smiles microscopically in approval, “The enemy of our enemy is our friend.” Natasha nods, “Stay sharp out there, we got new allies,” she says into the commlink. She turns to Okoye, “Wanna give them a hand?” Okoye nods and they run down to join up with them. 

At one point, Peridot jumped to avoid a blast and ended up on the back of one of the Outriders. It didn't seem to notice her as it charged along. "Get me off this thing!" She cries. It stopped short as a launched spear pierced its head which caused Peridot to be thrown off of it. Okoye promptly retrieves her spear. 

"Thanks," Peridot says as she gets up and dusts herself off, though there was a hint of sarcasm in her voice. 

Garnet and Amethyst fight side by side, a whip cracking out to pull an enemy down, a well-placed punch to send one reeling. Garnet goes to hit another but some energy hit it first before sending electricity through it. It howls in agony before falling along with the rest. Garnet turned to see the source of the shot to be from a blonde human in a black jumpsuit; Natasha. 

Garnet had no time for introductions, as more and more Outriders replaced the ones they'd taken down. She launches into an uppercut that sent two flying. Okoye took the opportunity to launch her spear again, nailing both in the strike. Garnet was able to yank the weapon from their bodies to hand it back to the Wakandian general. 

"To whom do I owe the pleasure of this battle?" Okoye asked the strange ally after they fended off a few more of the invaders. 

"Garnet," she replied simply. Garnet was never one to normally indulge in conversation, but there was unspoken solidarity between the two warriors. A wall of enemies form to attack them, but Garnet places her gauntlets in front of her and clicks them together. They launch from her arms like rockets and hit the brigade with mighty force before dissipating. Garnet promptly summons a new pair to continue fighting. Okoye was both grateful and impressed by the move.

The ground begins to rumble and Peridot spots a Tresher heading right towards them. It tore through the Earth and even swallowed Outriders with it. "Incoming!" She calls out, feebly attempting to move it out of the way with her ferrokinesis. Red energy engulfs the large, devastating piece of machinery instead as Wanda descends to join the fight. With great effort, she is able to lift it off the ground and toss it away, taking out dozens of Outriders with it. Okoye huffs in disbelief, "Why was she up there all this time?"

With another temporary pause in the battle, Garnet turns to regard her new allies but notices someone missing. "Where's Amethyst?" She says quickly to Peridot. Her question was soon answered for her, as Amethyst came by hanging onto a small Outrider ship as it zipped through the air. She had apparently tried to drag it down with her whip but was unsuccessful. 

"Come on, we have to go get 'er," Garnet says to Peridot. "Right behind you," she replies, standing on a small piece of metal debris and levitating it as she did with a trash can lid sometimes to get around. 

"Well, they were… interesting," Natasha comments as the three gems went wayward down the battlefield. Soon, however, they were warned by Sam that Vision was in trouble. 

Meanwhile, Garnet gave great chase to the fleeting ship, using charging Outriders as stepping stones to her goal. Once she was close enough, she leaps up and catches the ship before hoisting herself up. She helps Amethyst up too, who had been swinging behind the ship.

Peridot soon catches up and hops off the piece of metal she’d been floating on. “Really Amethyst?” she huffs. “I was just trying to take this hunk of junk down!” She insists, “Besides, we can just hop off.”

Garnet shakes her head, “If we get off now, we’ll be surrounded,” she reasons. It was true; the ship was cruising deeper and deeper into the Outrider charge, to the source of the brigade itself.

“Then we can hijack the ship!” Peridot suggests. Without further hesitation, Garnet began to punch her way into what seemed to be the cockpit. Soon she breaks through, grabs the Outrider, and tosses it out. Peridot was quick to jump in to assume control of the ship. Garnet and Amethyst held on tightly as the ship swayed, but eventually Peridot—being an engineer—figured out the basic controls. The ship continues towards the main dropship.

“It’s not letting me turn it around!” She says worriedly. 

“Garnet…” Amethyst trails off, pulling her attention away from the frazzled green gem. She was pointing to a spot where a huge surge of energy was coming from. Suddenly, streaks of color mark the sky as four objects flew away from Earth.

“What was that?” Peridot comments. Garnet had no answer.

Further and further they were taken away from Earth, and now it seemed the whole Outrider army was following suit.

Amethyst and Peridot look to Garnet with an unspoken question, _ How are we getting back home? _There was a moment of silence.

“We have to stick together for now. This fight isn’t over, and we’ll reunite with the others soon enough,” Garnet says solemnly. The other two gems didn’t interject, for it was all they could truly do.


	4. Calamity pt. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We cut to Lapis and what she was doing all the way up to the blast. In this part two of three prologue, she makes a new friend and a startling discovery.

Lapis ascends through the caverns in search of a way out. It didn’t help that she was purposely avoiding the trains, something about them seemed negative to her. She was thinking about how she’d group back up with the others when she felt a familiar pull. 

Water.

A stream from somewhere in the cave sang to her, its churning tendrils silently but desperately summoning her being. It was wild and soft and pristine all at the same time. Her attraction to water was as expressionless as the subject itself.

She eventually finds it; a spring gushing with life, flowing down through the caverns to form a river. Lapis realizes this was her way out. She flies low enough to run a hand through the water as she went. It was her way of silently thanking the water for leading her this way. It playfully reaches back and races along with her. Soon, she sees sunlight and the water bursts from the cave like an open wound. Being newly born, it sprays free from its confinement in the darkness of the caverns. Down, down, down, it went, cascading—even flying—for a moment before recollecting at the ground. There, it was calmer and more peaceful. It flows majestically down the rocky slope towards the greater river. 

Lapis’s appreciation of the water was interrupted by the ongoing spoils of war that unfurled in the distance. She quickly flies on to find the others. She suddenly halts as she hears a loud crash behind her. A large, armored alien was fighting a person in bulky red and golden armor.

“Guys, Vision need back up now!” The armored Bruce Banner calls out. Once he gets up he struggles with Cull Obsidian as the brute tosses him around. Obsidian picks up his ax, lodges it into Banner’s shoulder armor, and swings over him. The arm snaps clean off as the armor crumbles at the joint. Banner yells out in frustration.

After staring perplexed at the scene, Lapis decides she needs to act. She may have been reluctant to fight before, but she was needed. She brings up her hand and the water begins to collect and rise behind her at will. The two fighting don’t seem to notice as they continue on.

Banner begins to get a few punches in, but Obsidian is able to catch Banner’s good arm. With a hard punch, Banner goes flying back and causes water to spray up around him. Banner remains there groaning as Obsidian approaches him with a blade in hand.

“Hey!”

The two turn their attention to the blue gem. Subsequently, they notice the huge pillar of water she has lifted. She throws her hand forward and the water forms a fist as it shoots out towards them. Banner braces himself, but the water hits only Obsidian at full force. He is launched back all the way to the waterfall. At that time, Banner is able to get back up. Who was this stranger? Another of Cap’s friends he has yet to be introduced to?

The formalities would have to wait as Obsidian is back on his feet and very pissed off. He roars in anger as he charges the two of them. Banner catches him with his one arm but Obsidian easily backhands Banner away. Lapis throws up both of her hands as he approaches her, creating a wall of water underneath him. The brute was launched straight up into the air. Without hesitating, Lapis throws her hands back down with a slight circular motion. The water forms above Obsidian and slams him down at full force. That only seemed to make him angrier. 

Obsidian defiantly got up again and was close enough to the gem to swing at her. Lapis only has time to create a small wall of ice to protect herself, but it was insufficient. The ice shatters as his fist passes through it and the small gem is thrown violently onto the bank of the river.

Obsidian goes to finish her when Banner fires several repulsor shots at him. He successfully distracts him from Lapis as Obsidian turns to fight. They trade several swings. By now, Banner has gotten used to fighting with one arm and avoids Obsidian’s heavier blows and grabs by momentarily propelling himself in the air. This, in turn, allows himself to deal more devastating blows as he slams his fist down onto Obsidian each time he descends. This alone won’t defeat the massive warrior though. 

Lapis rises back onto her feet. They need a more permanent method of subduing him. She once again lifts her hand. Water begins to coil around Obsidian, creeping and edging forth like vines overtaking a massive structure. He doesn’t notice until the water is at his waist. While still fighting Banner, the brute growls and thrashes his legs to free himself. He isn’t completely immobilized, but the water holds strong. Lapis adds her other hand for added strength. Banner steps back as Obsidian is soon encased in a layer of water. Lapis’s hands shake as she struggles to keep the angry and trashing brute trapped. Banner could guess what she was trying to do, but at this rate, it wasn’t going to work.

“Freeze him!” He quickly suggests. He didn’t know the full extent of her powers but he saw her make that small ice wall earlier. Lapis shoots him a wary glance before slowly closing her fists. The water instantly freezes and Obsidian can no longer move. 

Lapis could still feel him continue to fight. She felt every molecule of water surrounding the alien warrior. She felt every minuscule movement, every twitch, every heartbeat. It was like when she was trapped with Jasper as Malachite, minus the fact that there was no mental torture involved.

“What’s wrong?” Banner asks, seeing as she had yet to put her hands down.

“I can’t let go,” She replies simply yet direly. Small cracks form within the ice within.

Banner scanned around for a solution and spots Obsidian’s discarded ax. In one fluid movement, he brings it up and swings down with all the force he could muster. The ice shatters but the giant is easily cleaved down the middle. Lapis falls to her knees after the deed was done.

Banner took a moment to scan over his strange, new companion. She definitely wasn’t completely human judging from both her water manipulation powers (hydrokinesis) and her abnormally blue skin. Where did she even come from?

Banner allows his helmet to recede, exposing his head and neck.

“So uh, what’s your name kid?” He asks awkwardly. He assumes she’s kind of young because she looked youthful and was, well, quite small.

“Lapis Lazuli.”

“As in… the blue rock?” Banner questions. He was no geologist but… 

“We prefer the term ‘gem’,” she replies, laughing dryly.

“_ We _?” Banner echoes.

Lapis gasps, “The others! I just remembered, I need to regroup with them!” She says suddenly as she summons her water wings. 

“Whoa whoa, slow down, you have friends here?”

“Yes! We came to help once we heard of the attack,” she explains. She turns to fly away.

“Hold on a minute, I’ll help you once the dust settles, but right now we’re in a tight spot and could use anything we can get,” he says, trying to put on a friendly tone despite his underlying fear and desperation. He’d just got a message from Steve to form up on his position. Lapis considers it and decides she can trust him. She was normally distrusting, but they helped each other take down Obsidian. Besides, if they have to go away from the water she won’t be as viable in battle.

She turns back to him and offers a nod. Banner puts his helmet back up and leads the way. 

Soon they join up with Steve, Natasha, T’Challa, Okoye, and Sam. Blue clouds of a portal appear and Thanos walks out, scanning his surroundings. Banner’s gut twists up with varieties of anger and fear.

“Cap. That’s him.”

“Eyes up. Stay Sharp,” Steve replies. None of them really have time to question Lapis’s presence, not with their greatest enemy standing right there.

Banner is the first to lunge at him, but all Thanos has to do is raise his gauntlet and Banner phases through him. Once he’s halfway inside of the cliff face Thanos leaves him there, immobilized. Lapis quickly flies over to him as the other Avengers take turns fighting Thanos. 

“_ That _ went well,” Banner comments, his voice laced with sarcasm and frustration. All he could do was helplessly watch the others get swatted away by the titan. Hopefully, Wanda pulls through for them. 

“I’m going to try to get you out,” Lapis says once she reaches him. She changes her wings to fists and repeatedly strikes the cliff face. Progress is slow.

“Hurry hurry,” Banner urges, still looking on as Thanos approaches Wanda and Vision. She doesn’t reply as she gradually chips away at the cliff. Suddenly there’s a huge blast of power and Lapis is thrown forward. Banner sighs with relief as Wanda had successfully destroyed the Mind Stone. 

The relief was short-lived.

“Lapis get back up!” he says, panicking as Thanos reformed the Mind Stone and added it to his gauntlet. He was sure there was little he could do even _ if _ she freed him, but he had to do _ something _.

It takes a while for her to get up, but once she did she couldn’t get back to the task of freeing Banner. She starts hearing… Voices? She turns to the scene behind her. Her eyes lock onto the gauntlet.

“Those… They’re gems!” she gasps. It looks like they were forced to be in that gauntlet. Flashbacks came forth of her being trapped in that mirror for all those millennia, of her being trapped in Malachite. Her heart ached for them. Their screams resonated in her whole being.

“Wanda, what’s going on?” Banner asks over the commlink. There was no answer. At one point Thor flies in and strikes Thanos, but the surging power and the wailing doesn’t stop. Finally, there is a huge blast of power and four of the stones are launched high into the atmosphere.

The blast is so great that Lapis’s body gives out. She disappears in a blue puff of smoke, leaving only her tear-drop shaped gem.

“Lapis?” Banner asks. He’d witnessed her poof and didn’t know what to make of it. He uses all of his strength and manages to get out of the cliff just enough to open up the armor. He delicately picked up her gem once he hopped out. Did she die? He looks up. Where was Thanos? And the Infinity Stones?

Banner sighs and jogs over to the others with Lapis in hand. 

All he could think is _ what now? _


	5. Calamity pt. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> We finally cut to Pearl, Steven, and Connie, though we find they may be late to the action. This is where we transition from the "prologue" to current events. Heads clash, questions are thrown left and right, and a brand new face appears.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Since we're really getting into the thick of it, chapters may be longer and may fluctuate in length. Consistency of length has never been my forte but I hope you guys don't mind. The bit with Pearl, Steven, and Connie was too short to be it's own chapter and didn't fit with the other two, so it's the beginning of this chapter.

Pearl valiantly leads the way even though the two preteens trailing behind her were groaning and complaining the whole time. Particularly the not-as-fit Steven. It didn’t help that large portions of the old structure were broken, uneven, and at some parts destroyed. Still, the vigilant pearl was rather stubborn. 

“I knew we should’ve brought lion,” Steven groans. They left him at the house to keep guard. Plus, he didn’t seem that interested in coming, and it’s near impossible to convince the large feline to do anything he didn’t feel like doing.

“Now now Steven, this is good for you,” Pearl reassures, “Besides, we’ll be out of here in no time! It’s much more discreet this way too.” She earlier explained that since this is a gem-made passage, they wouldn’t be spat out into the heat of battle. She wanted to keep them safe after all, especially if this battle is like any she fought all those thousands of years ago.

“Are you _ sure _ this is the right way?” Connie huffs, getting increasingly tired from carrying around her sword, “I mean, maybe it’s changed—”

“These caverns don’t just _ change_,” Pearl scoffs, “they’ve just been… Damaged. Yeah, a little damage won’t stop us now will it?”

Steven and Connie exchange glances. Silence settles as they trek on a bit longer.

“Peeaarrll…”

“Yes, Steven?” She sighs.

“Can’t we just rest? For like 5 minutes?” He asks before plopping down against a rock. Pearl turns to reply when the caverns suddenly begin to violently shake. Steven shoots back up to his feet, “I didn’t do anything!” 

“Run!” Connie yells as stalactites begin falling. They blindly follow Pearl as she leads the way. She summons her spear to clear away debris in their path with elegantly calculated swings. Steven summons his shield and holds it above his and Connie’s head like an umbrella.

A large boulder crashes in front of them, causing Steven and Connie to skid to a halt. Pearl, however, continues to charge forward. She leaps up into the air and slashes downward with her spear. A wave of energy projects from the spear in the direction she cut, splitting the rock cleanly down the middle. Steven and Connie hurry through.

“Light!” Connie shouts, pointing to an opening where sunlight poured into the cave. They divert course to the exit of the caverns. The walls begin collapsing faster and faster behind them and the escape would be close. Even the incline they were running on began to crumble and descend. “We’re gonna have to jump,” Steven notes urgently. Pearl is already well ahead of them and out of the cave, but she had her hand reached out to them. 

They jump in unison as the incline fully collapsed. Arms interlocked, they reach out to Pearl.

Pearl grabs onto them at the last moment.

“I… Got you,” she says, straining heavily to pull them up.

Thankfully, they were able to help and pull themselves up. Once they’re in the clear, Steven and Connie collapse in exhaustion. Soon, the cave and their surroundings are still.

“See, I told you we’d be out in no time,” Pearl says, trying to remain optimistic as she rises to her feet and dusts herself off. She looks down at Steven and Connie, still on the ground of course, and frowns. “Ok, I suppose a rest is in order.”

After they caught their breath, Pearl urges them to trek onwards. They reach an overlook where they had an expansive view of the battlefield.

“Wow…” Steven comments breathlessly as the carnage unfolds. There is more apprehensiveness in the statement than actual wonder. All of those people and aliens dying and spilling blood and running each other through; it was a barbaric sight… Why did he insist on coming again?

Before Pearl can suggest anything, there’s a blast from somewhere above them. 

“What was that?” Connie exclaims.

“Look!” Interjects Steven as he points at the sky. Four objects fly away from Earth, leaving trails of green, purple, red, and orange. They watch in awed silence. 

Pearl’s attention returns to the field. “Seems that that caused the invading force to pull back,” she observes.

“So we missed the action?” Steven asks. There is an ambiguous mix of relief and disappointment in his voice. Pearl didn’t mind the notion.

“Well, I guess we can head back to the warp,” she says with a sarcastic shrug.

“Pearl, the cavern collapsed,” Connie points out.

“There’ll be another entrance,” she counters.

“Maybe we should find the others first,” Steven suggests. 

“Hm, you have a point, the others probably _ did _ get out first…” 

“Garnet, Amethyst, and Peridot got on a train which is infrastructure made by that city, maybe they’ll be closer to there?” Connie points out.

“Let’s go then!” Steven chirps. It’s clear Pearl had no choice but to go along with their plan. If she were to be honest, she was rather curious about this city and the technology it was bound to hold. Was there something on this planet that she, one who’s been here for thousands of years, she had yet to discover?

* * *

Back in the Wakandian tower, Steve and his team were trying to get a grip on what happened. By all means, they shouldn’t be standing here. Well, _ half _ of them anyway. Wanda had yet to wake up but she was in stable condition. The Mind Stone that mysteriously ended up in her hand zapped anyone that tried to take it, so they left it there.

“Alright, here are the four rogue stones,” Rocket was saying as he configures the table hologram they were observing to display the predicted path of the stones. 

“At this rate, they’ll be in the next galaxy over by tomorrow,” Natasha retorts as she observes their momentum. It’s a slight exaggeration, but not far off.

“We have one though,” Banner says optimistically, “We just gotta, uh…”

“Redo today’s fiasco with the big purple douchebag? Who, by the way, has the one stone that lets him teleport wherever he wants?” Sam points out. Uneasy and tired glances are exchanged. A huff is heard from across the room from a sulking Thor.

“My main concern is that warship loitering on our front yard,” Steve says to break the tension. A different image is pulled up, one that displayed Thanos’s fleet in just outside of their orbit. Their forces had been retracted off the soil itself, but the fleet is still hanging around, apparently.

“Well it’s obvious, they know we have a stone so they’re gonna take it first before they go for the others,” Rocket suggests as a matter-of-factly.

“Then why did they call a full retreat? Thanos is still kicking, they have leadership, they have a mission. So?...” Bucky counters.

“Unless he isn’t,” Thor says, calling everyone’s attention, “The beast needs time to lick his wounds if he’s going to try again, especially with only one stone in his arsenal.” A short silence descends on the group. Okoye is eyeing the tear-drop gem Banner is still holding onto.

“I do wonder about those… allies that appeared today,” T’Challa ponders as if reading her mind.

“Those three bogeys?” Sam asks.

“Ah, four,” Banner corrects, holding up the gem.

“That does… nothing to clarify what you meant by that.”

“How much for that?” Rocket butt in.

“What? No, no I don’t even know what it, or _ she _ I guess, is,” Banner explains.

“She?” a couple of people echo.

“This rock was a girl at one point and she had crazy water powers. I would’ve been toast had she not showed up. She said she needed to regroup with some others so I had her follow me… Then she just poofed into thin air in the Blast,” Banner says, making hand motions, “She called herself Lapis Lazuli.”

“One of the others referred to herself as Garnet,” Okoye reports.

“So we got a team of people with weird abilities named after rocks helping us,” Natasha comments.

After a little longer of back and forth, T’Challa is called down to the city to handle an intrusion of some sort. Steve meanwhile left the others to check on Wanda. He bumps into Shuri on the way down.

“Oh, she’s up, and very frazzled,” Shuri reports unprompted.

“Thank you. Give us a moment, would you?” He requests. Shuri nods and continues to wherever she was heading.

Steve found Wanda sitting on the edge of her bed looking intently on the Mind Stone. Her lips quiver as if she intended to speak, but she is too shaken to. 

“Wanda?”

She finally looks up, though the look in her eyes is slightly distant.

“O-Oh, sorry I—” she trails off and wipes her eyes. She made no attempt to continue that statement and simply sighs.

“Are you alright?” Steve asks as he sat down next to her. It’s a redundant question, but he wants to pull her back into reality.

Wanda shakes her head and laughs dryly, “You know when I first woke up a moment ago, I hoped dearly all of that was a bad dream, that I’d reach over and he’d still be there. But then I look and all there is, is _ this_,” she says bitterly. If it weren’t for that cursed stone…

“Wanda,” Steve says slowly, “What happened back there?”

Wanda shut her eyes tightly, “You wouldn’t believe me.”

“Try me,” he says sincerely. He’d like to think not much phases him anymore, though that has been proven wrong from time to time.

Wanda shifts and sighs again, “When I destroyed the Mind Stone, Thanos used the gauntlet to reverse it and got it back. Once he added it to the gauntlet, something went wrong. The power wouldn’t stop, h-he even said that ‘this isn’t right’.”

Steve waits patiently for her to continue.

“He turned to me, I think? He wasn’t looking right at me. Must’ve thought I was doing something. That’s when I heard it, it was so terrible.”

“What?”

“Screaming. Terrible screaming. From… The stones.”

“The stones?”

“Yes, it’s crazy, but what else could that have been? They were chanting over and over ‘release us’,” Wanda finishes as she holds her head in her free hand. Steve vaguely thought of those strangers on the field but didn’t quite make a connection. Steve eventually gets up and thinks for a moment.

“You did what you could out there you know, don’t let it weigh too much on you,” he offers, “I’m heading back up… Do you want me to hang onto that?” he asks, referring to the stone. She shook her head. Without much more than that, he leaves.

Wanda looks at the stone once again. As much as she blamed it for everything, she was still inexplicably drawn to it. It defined everything she was, her power, her love, her mission, her tragedy.

She idly plays with it using her magic. She is reminded when Vision first told her that it was trying to tell him something and she messed with it then.

“I just feel you,” she whispers to herself. 

There’s something different now though. The way it intermingled with her power was the same, but it felt more active, alive even. It coiled and churned and pulled at her small, gentle streams of energy. It beckoned and soothed and thrilled her subconscious. Was this what it was like to have this thing in her head? Was this what it was like to be Vision? The familiarity was wrong and eerie.

_Wanda…_

She jolts and looks around. She is still alone. It didn’t sound like that was out loud, it was like another unknown voice in her head. Could it be?

_Wanda… Help me…_

“W-What?” she chokes out, looking back at the stone. It’s glowing a bit brighter, churning a bit more wildly.

_Only you… Only you… Only you…_

She isn’t sure what it meant by that, but she starts fiddling with it again with her powers. Brighter and brighter it grew until at one point it’s floating on its own as a great white light forms around it.

* * *

When Steve rejoins the others, three strangers are present; a tall lady with pale skin and a smooth, white stone on her forehead and two kids.

“Look, I don’t feel the need to explain myself to you, we contributed, the battle’s over, and now we just want our allies so we can get out of your hair,” she scoffs with her arms crossed.

“Pearl, they might not even know who we’re talking about,” says one of the kids, a boy with black curly hair and a pink shirt.

“What’s going on here?” Steve asks aloud.

“These three were apprehended just inside of the city,” T’Challa replies.

Pearl is about to retort when the boy interrupts her, “Yeah, sorry about that. I’m Steven, this is Pearl, and this is Connie. We came to help out and got separated from our friends,” explains, making gestures, “There’s a tall one with box-shaped hair, a short green one with triangle-shaped hair, a purple one, and a blue one with water wings…”

“Ah, so you _ are _ friends with those rocks,” Rocket quips.

“We prefer the term _gem,_” Pearl corrects.

“So you’ve seen them?” Steven says hopefully, ignoring their exchange. At that point, Banner came forward and grimly presents the blue gem he’d been holding, “She was looking for you guys before she—”

“Lapis!” Steven gasps as he interrupts Banner to take it from him.

“I’m really sorry, I tried to—”

“No, no, she’s fine, she’ll reform. Thank you,” Steven interrupts again, offering him a grateful smile.

“Reform?” he echos.

“Our power comes from our gem,” Pearl jumps in, “Our bodies are made of light, pure illusion.” The wheels in Banner’s head really start turning at that slice of information, wondering how these beings work.

“Slightly more relevant question,” Natasha interrupts, “Why are you here? _ How _ are you here?”

“To help fight! We’re protectors of Earth,” Steven answers enthusiastically. Pearl facepalms.

“... You’re children.”

“Well, I’m part gem,” Steven says, lifting his shirt and puzzling Banner even more. “And Pearl trained me to sword fight!” Connie adds as she held up her large pink sword. “So, where are the other three then?” Pearl asks as the conversation is getting derailed again.

“There was a report that they accidentally hitched a ride on an Outrider dropship as it was retreating,” Sam answers.

“They’re in space?!” Pearl exclaims.

“Well, they haven’t left our solar system yet.”

“Oh I knew it, I knew we shouldn't have come, this isn’t a gem issue I said but no one listens to Pearl anymore do they?” Pearl rambles as she began to pace. Steven futilely tries to console her. Bucky stands with Steve off to the side as things unfold.

“So what, are they part of the team now?” he asks. Steve shrugs, “They got wrapped up in this mess and helped, so I suppose. The infinity stones are our first priority, though.”

Suddenly, there is a scream from the lower level.

“It’s Wanda!” 

Steve and several other people rush down with weapons drawn. They were expecting an Outrider coming for the stone, but they happen a much different scene. The Mind Stone was nowhere to be seen, but there was a stranger in the room with Wanda. She had pale yellow skin and bright yellow hair tied back with a red band. She also had a red cape and a bright blue asymmetrical skirt connecting her arms with “wings”, covering a brown and off-yellow leotard. When she turns to them, she shockingly has the Mind Stone nested in her forehead.

“Who are you, and why do you have the stone?” Steve asks. Everyone tenses up. The stranger only smiles.

“Why, I would hope it’s obvious,” she starts. Her voice is soft and accented, making it strangely similar to Vision’s voice.

“I am the Mind Stone.”


	6. Warship

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Now that the Mind Stone is reformed, the team can reorganize to start their journey for the other stones. Meanwhile, Garnet, Peridot, and Amethyst work on escaping from the Q-ship.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For the intents and purposes of the plot, I opted to keep Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive alive. This is an AU, I can tweak parts as I see fit. I’ll at least tell you guys when I do intentionally change things so you don’t mistake them for inaccuracies. Also, I gave the Q-ships a crew as they seem to be automated but where’s the fun in that? :3c
> 
> I apologize that this is late, but I encourage you to check out my Tumblr to stay up to date on the status of the story and to interact with me in general. I post art and I would be happy to answer asks!

"Come, let's regroup with the others," Mind politely says as everyone else stood there dumbfounded. Steve fell into step next to Wanda, "What was that about? Are you ok?"

She nods, "I'm fine, it just surprised me. One minute I'm holding the stone and the next it turns into a person," she huffs, leaving out a few details. Steve doesn't press on the issue. Mind keeps glancing at Wanda as if expecting her to say or do something. Wanda notices but refuses to make eye contact. Finally, they reach the meeting room with everyone else. 

"Who's—"

"Whoa! Another gem!" Steven blurts out, interrupting Banner once again. He bounds up to her. "What kind of gem are you?" He asks. Even Pearl couldn't quite identify her. A Topaz perhaps? No, too small. A yellow Zircon? No, probably not. 

"Wait, you're one of these things?" Sam asks, vaguely waving his hand at Pearl, prompting her to glare at him.

"Kind of; I'm a piece of Infinity," she explains with a nod. 

"_ What _?!" Pearl screeches. 

"Just like that myth Garnet told us about!" Connie says excitedly. 

"What are you on about? You know about the Infinity Stones?" 

"Yes! No? Agh," Pearl says exasperatedly, "they aren't supposed to exist! It's just, an old gem creation myth!" She once again starts to ramble manically. 

"Well, news flash bird nose, this is what our whole war is about," Rocket quips.

"Wait," Natasha says before Pearl can verbally or physically attack Rocket, "That means that all six of the stones are going to become... sentient?"

Mind nods, "In time, we will reform. We are pretty powerful on our own, but our goal is to of course become one again. To fuse and become-"

"Infinity," Steven finishes, once again daydreaming of what the massive goddess fusion would look like. 

"Why did the others shoot off into space?" Steve asks.

"Ah, well, when we split up after making the universe, we needed more than time to reform. Only the presence of each other could wake us."

"That's why the gauntlet didn't work," Wanda murmurs. The piece of armor simply could not contain the power of all six awakened gems. 

"Also, I interfered," she admits sheepishly, "I was already conscious from being used so long, I was the only one aware of what was going on by the time I was in the gauntlet, so I expedited waking the others. I may have... Overdone it." Had it not been for Mind, and Vision for that matter, they would have lost. Wanda wonders why Mind didn't just reform right away then, and why she needed to "help" her out. A silence descends upon them. 

"What happens when you all come together and... 'fuse' you called it?" Asks Banner

Mind shrugs, "I don't remember what it was like to be Infinity."

"I think Garnet mentioned something about Her blowing up everything?" Steven says uncertainly. "Yes, which is why the best course of action is to bubble and contain the other pieces until we can figure out an alternative," Pearl interjects. 

"Can Thanos somehow still use you?" Steve presses.

Mind laughs, "I can't say for certain but I highly doubt that. But if he were to somehow reduce us to just our gems again..."

"Snap," Natasha finishes. 

So they had two options. Let the stones reform and fuse and deal with God itself, or contain them and keep them away from Thanos. Well, they saw how well the latter worked the first time. Pearl was their best source for this 'gem business' except that she didn't even know the stones existed until a few moments ago. 

"Alright, whether we choose to let them reform or not, our priority is keeping Thanos away from them, and hopefully kill the bastard in the process," Steve concludes. Everyone seems to agree. Steven raises his hand. 

"Yes?"

"Who's Thanos?"

* * *

Garnet, Peridot, and Amethyst squeeze into the minor dropship they had stowed away in as it pulls to dock into the bigger Q-ship. Peridot had to restrain herself from gawking at all the technology lest she gets them captured or worse.

“The bigger ship is bound to have manual crafts or an escape pod,” Garnet reasons. Peridot seemed to be pondering something for a bit.

“What if,” she says slowly, “we find a computer with a log of information.”

“Why? The only thing we need to know about these guys is that they’re ugly and fun to punch,” Amethyst says enthusiastically. Peridot shushes her when she raised her voice, causing her to deflate.

“If we figure out _ why _ these… things… are here and _ what _ they’re after, we can better help to keep them off of Earth,” Peridot elaborates. After all, this was the second time aliens (other than themselves of course) had been on Earth.

Garnet considers the notion and nods. Amethyst only shrugs and huffs.

When the ship came to a halt, Amethyst went to hop out but Garnet holds her back. Someone was approaching the ship. Of course, there was a gaping hole in the roof that was suspicious. Garnet readies a gauntlet in her right hand.

There was an exchange between two Outriders just outside of the ship. They seem to be more advanced than the dog-like brutes that attacked Wakanda. The three stowaway gems couldn’t make out the language they were speaking.

Finally, one of them peeks into the cockpit curiously. Its face was promptly met with Garnet’s fist, sending it flying across the dock. The gems quickly leap out; their cover had been blown. The other Outrider screeches and swung at Peridot. She ducks in time and Garnet uppercut the brute. The first one gets up at that point and runs off to alert the ship.

“Amethyst, after it!” Garnet exclaims. Amethyst nods with a grin and summons a whip. “Get back here dog breath!” her voice resonates in the hanger.

Garnet turns to Peridot, “That will buy us some time, let’s hurry, I’ll cover you.”

* * *

“Glaive!” Proxima Midnight’s voice echos in the main chamber of the Q-ship, “Why do we lie stagnant? As we speak our enemies are regaining strength.”

They both narrowly escaped death before Thanos came and grabbed the Mind Stone. Corvus Glaive, the one specifically sent to retrieve it, was not so pleased with his failure. But they won… For a moment. After Thanos teleported away and the stones shot into space he ordered troops to retract and meet back on the Q-ship. He figured Thanos had teleported here long before them.

“We’ve received no orders, our liege Thanos hasn’t even returned to any of the ships,” he replies.

“Even in his absence, we have a mission! The Stones are out there again,” she argues.

“Yes, which is why we had to regroup,” he retorts as he brings up a star map predicting the Stones’ trajectory. 

“There’s only four,” Midnight points out.

“Our father has the Space Stone, the Mind Stone’s whereabouts are unknown; it could be somewhere on Earth or Thanos could already have it as well,” he explains, gritting his teeth slightly. For some reason, they were unable to track it the way they could before. At first, he figured it had followed the same path as the other four, but it seemed to vanish.

“We should send scouts to Earth at once,” Midnight suggests. She would like nothing more than a full attack to squander their forces once and for all, but with two of their brothers dead, their enemies anticipating their movements, and their father missing, they could not risk that.

Their meeting was interpreted by clanging coming from a corridor, followed by screeching. “Intruders!” Midnight hisses. They each grab their weapons and head down there.

“Just _ die _ already!” Came a brash feminine voice which was followed by more screeching. Finally, the screeching subsides and they stumble upon the purple gem standing over the corpse of an Outrider soldier. 

“What is the meaning of this?” Glaive snarls.

“What, this dude?” Amethyst nervously says as she gestures to the slain Outrider, “He was like that when I got here.”

Glaive and Midnight, both very unamused, only scowl and point their weapons at her. 

Amethyst sighs and summons another whip. Guess she was doing this the hard way. Amethyst throws out a whip, lassos it around Midnight’s spear, and yanks it away. Before it got far from her grasp, Midnight reaches out a hand and it stops abruptly before flying back to her, bringing Amethyst along with it. 

As the gem hurtles towards them, Glaive lunges to stab her with his spear, but she thought fast and shapeshifts into a bird. She flies out of the way of the strike and shifts back to her original form.

“What trickery is this?” Midnight scoffs. She’d never seen anything quite like this before.

“Ain’t no trick, I’m just better than you,” Amethyst retorts. Angered, Midnight retaliates by coming at her with twirls of her spear. Amethyst moves out of the way, barely missing the energy-charged end of the spear. Once Midnight passes her, Amethyst launches into a spin dash that caught Midnight off guard, which knocks her across the room.

“How do you like them apples!”

With Amethyst’s back turned, Glaive snuck up and quickly manages to skewer her in the back with his spear. She looks down at the blade wide-eyed before she disappears in a purple cloud of smoke. Her gem clatters to the ground.

Once Midnight recovers from her spill, she rejoins with Glaive and picks up the gemstone to examine it. What was that creature? 

“We must send an alert to the rest of the ship for any more of those… things,” Glaive says as he straightens his posture. Midnight nods and reaches for a communicator.

* * *

"Hurry Peridot," Garnet says as she remains by the door as a guard. There were many ways this could go wrong, but Garnet is determined to try to avoid those realities. 

"Hold on, just a bit longer," she insists. It was hard to do anything when everything was in a dialect that she didn't understand. Nevertheless, she taps away at a console they found in a small room, all while grumbling complaints under her breath. Garnet senses an Outrider round the corner in the hallway. She tenses up and waits patiently. She only had to attack if necessary. It creeps closer and closer down the hallway as if it too were observing. It could probably hear Peridot but Garnet couldn't warn her. She could only wait. 

Just then, a voice rings out on some speaker system that the gems couldn't see, **"Attention Outrider crew, be on the alert for intruders! Kill them on sight."**

The Outrider in the hallway screeches and barges into the room. This surprises Peridot and she lets out a shriek. Garnet was quick to react, however, and punches the creature into a wall, leaving a crater in the metal. The thing didn't stand a chance against the force of the hit and it goes still. 

"Amethyst has been caught, we need to get 'er and get out," Garnet explains as he adjusts her visor.

"Ok, I think I found what we were looking for, you probably won't like it though," Peridot says as she glances warily at the screen of the console and the picture of six gems it displays. 

"You'll have to explain when we're safe," Garnet says as she leads the charge. However, when they reach a fork in the hall Garnet stops. Peridot shoots past her and stops when she realizes she wasn’t following. “What are you doing?!” She shrieks.

“I need to go get Amethyst, you go right and find some escape ship for us.

“Wh-”

“Just go Peridot! And make sure you aren’t seen,” Garnet commands. She was doing her best to keep everyone out of danger, but the possibilities of time were fast closing. If she can’t get everyone off this ship, the best she could do was to have at least one of them escape to get help.

“Mm,” Peridot replies with a determined nod. With that, they dash in opposite directions. 

Screeching from various Outrider crew can be heard from throughout the ship as they search for the gems. A group of five with spears round the corner down the hall from Garnet but she did not slow. She meets the charge with a great swing of her gauntlets. Three go down while the other two jab at her, but she leaps over the spears, causing the two to stab each other. One of the outriders that got knocked down scrambles to its feet and reaches for a pad on the wall. It was smacked out of the way when the door slid open and a beast of some sort burst from its confinement. 

The slithering beast reels back and screeches a harrowing scream that shakes the whole corridor. It was a juvenile Chitauri Leviathan. It lacked most of the armor of its war-ship-turned, adult counterpart, but it had the “strut” like appendages and some degree of flying powers. The ugly creature wobbly takes off from the ground and circles in the hallway in search of prey. Its eyes were puny, so it relied on other senses to navigate.

Garnet leaps out of the way as its tail whips out at her. She ends up grabbing one of the struts. It felt her and immediately turns to attack her. She narrowly got out of the way of the teeth as it bit down onto itself. It screeches in pain as blue blood spurt from its wound. 

The corridor was much too narrow for the young Leviathan as it coils and slithers on itself midair. Garnet is smacked this way and that by different parts of the alien serpent’s body. Once it pinpointed where she was it again lunges at her and this time Garnet couldn’t move out of the way. She catches the top and bottom of its mouth and holds it open as it tries to bite down on her. Frustrated, it writhes in a frenzy as it put more and more pressure on her. Garnet strains to not let the thing sink its teeth into her, but it was starting to overpower her. She looks around for a way out and spots the open door of the cell it had been confined in. 

With great effort, she twists her body to bring both of them crashing back into the cell. She had a narrow window to move out of the way. Before her right arm got clear, the monster manages to bite down. In an instant, she felt herself get pulled apart as her two halves reform. 

“Ruby!” Sapphire exclaims once she lands on the ground. She could vaguely hear her enraged shouting as Ruby tried to break free of the monster’s mouth. However, she is silenced when the thing swallowed. Gross.

Sapphire gasps and covers her mouth. The Leviathan heard her and turns to attack her, but she was quick to move out of the way and it crashes into the wall. She deduces that her most optimal choice was to escape; she’d have to come back for Ruby later. It’s not like she could be digested, but it hurt to leave her here.

With that, she dashes out of the room and hops up to slap the pad on the way out. The door slid shut and the juvenile leviathan writhes angrily within its cell.

“Why hello there,” came a voice, and when Sapphire spins around she was met with Glaive pointing a spear at her. Midnight was there and she had Amethyst in her hand, but thankfully neither had Peridot.

“We have some questions for you.”


End file.
